Howard Armstrong (S16)
Howard Armstrong was an arrogant son of wealthy, weapon manufacturer Thomas Armstrong and his wife Margaret. Howard’s life changed forever when terrorists killed his parents. Escaping in a suit of power armor Howard decided he would dedicate his family’s resources to forge the world into a better place. As Armory, Howard became a founding member of the Sentinels. =Biography= Origin Howard Armstrong was born on Mariner’s Island in Empire City to Military industrialist Thomas Armstrong and his wife Margaret. The Armstrongs doted on their young boy. Thomas and Margaret tutored their son from a young age in Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering. This was when he became fascinated by his father’s machines. On Howard’s 15th birthday, the family was planning a trip on the Armstrong’s Jet. Terrorist operatives Hijacked the plane. Margaret was killed in the initial seizure and Thomas and Howard were captured The captive Armstrongs were forced under threat of death to create a doomsday weapon for the Red Hand. In response, they designed and built a suit of armor to help escape captivity. Thomas adjusted the design so that it would fully protect his son as opposed to covering them both In the suit. Howard and his father took on the operatives; Thomas was killed but Howard escaped, thus Armory was born. Training Howard swore an oath to rid the world of the evil that had taken his parents' lives. He spent his remaining youth traveling the world, training himself to intellectual and physical perfection and learning a variety of skills, including chemistry, engineering, physics, martial arts, and gymnastics. Armory Forged Armstrong returned to Empire City despite having all of the skills and methods to fight crime, there was something missing in the completion of his physical and mental arsenal. Howard recalled his escape. He remembered the fear his kidnappers showed when he charged through their defenses; he ultimately decided to recreate the suit he and his father built to escape the Red Hand. Armstrong designed himself a battle armor equipped with experimental technology and set out against the terror and corruption that forced many across the globe to live in fear. Howards tactics to hunt down the Red Hand and investigate global terrorism captured the attention of world governments and international organizations. He would reveal himself at a dinner of the military contractors and leaders promising them all that their reigns would eventually end. Armstrong’s first ally is World Court prosecutor Whitney Dent. The New Arms Race Armory’s dramatic introduction to the world, touched off a frantic race to field a super soldier. World governments sponsored their own Human genome and armor development projects. Criminal organizations also began to pool their resources to compete on the new battlefield Secret Identity Armory began to establish himself as one of the U.S.'s most eminent superheroes. Understanding his vulnerability to prosecution by the United States government. Howard Armstrong allowed the public at large to believe that he was no more than a rich playboy while his identity as Armory would remain a secret. The Red Sunset Armory and his trusted allies LTC James Streets and Whitney Dent in the Hague, and they swore that they would bring down the organized Terror syndicates the Red Hand and Shabh al-Sahra. Although it was necessary to bend the rules in their efforts, they agreed that they would never break them, and become as bad as the evil they fought against. Meanwhile, an Assassin named Janus began stalking prominent Arms dealers and shooting them dead. There was suspicion immediately cast on the three in the triumvirate, and the possibility that it might be someone trying to remove their competition. In his desperation, the Vanguard changed the game by employing super-villains in his activities. The Red Hand and Desert Wolves each believed the other was responsible for Janus, and their war sparked violence across the globe. Whitney Dent became a leading suspect because of her vindictive attitude towards war profiteers. Howard Armstrong was also suspected of involvement with the Red Hand and arrested. Dent later admitted this was a mistake. Several Desert Wolves were captured in a joint assault coordinated by Armory and LTC Streets WATCH team. At the Wolves’ trial, a smuggled in a bottle of acid was thrown at Dent's face during the prosecution, leaving her horribly disfigured. She killed a doctor escaping from the hospital. They arrive at the conclusion that Whitney Dent was Janus, and Armory attempts to find her after she escaped. While Streets is transporting the Sand Wolves to a different cell, Janus appears and shoots several of them. Following at a distance, Armoy speeds to the battle, and he beats Janus down before taking him into custody. Whitney reappears taking a team of terrorist operatives into the Vanguard's private office. As the Dent and Vanguard battle, Armory arrives and puts most of the operatives down, but he is unable to stop Whitney from shooting Vanguard in the head. The three allies, Armory, Streets, and Dent, have a final meeting on the rooftop. Dent is accused of betraying the things she believed in, but she insists that her methods were the only ones that actually got rid of the Vanguard and she did what she needed to. She's then arrested, and although Armory and Streets have seen one of the best people they knew completely broken, neither of them is willing to give up. Formation of the Sentinels Captain Mega came to Empire City viewing Armory as a dangerous terrorist and attempted to Capture him for his vigilante tactics. They were forced to work together tracking down the dangerous psychopath Vector, and Captain Mega realized that although his own style was suitable for his struggle, Armory did what he needed to do to fight his. They both gained respect for each other, although they doubted they would ever work together again. Wary of the sudden emergence of superhumans Hermes envoy of the Olympians orchestrated a very public and very destructive battle in hopes that the citizens of Earth would reject these new heroes. By making it appear that Antaeus had destroyed a bridge Hermes would draw in a few of these emerging heroes into battle with the great Goliath. Hermes then diverted a message to Captain Mega. What he didn't realize was that Armory, Aakar the Mystic, and The Hood had also intercepted it. After Captain Mega, Antaeus, Aakar, Hood, and Armory all defeated Hermes together, Aakar suggested that the five of them stayed together as a team, and the Armory dubbed them the Sentinels. Hostile Takeover Later, Armstrong Industries would be bought-out by Oswald Technologies; Zeke Oswald, the Founder/ CEO sought to dominate the weapons-market with Howard’s designs. Zeke discovered some designs of Armor components and began to produce knock-off Armory suits. His friend James Streets even took on the mantle of Armory, to cover Armstrong’s dual identity. Howard shifted focus to rebuilding his father’s company, which he would accomplish by diversifying his company into broader technology development. While this was happening, Streets was slowly going mad while using the Armory suit since its unique interface was designed for Armstrong's nervous system, and not his. The stress eventually drove Streets on a rampage. This caused Howard to use a prototype armor that was not yet finished in order to stop Streets from causing any more destruction. Following this incident, Streets repeatedly tried to convince Howard to resume the Armory mantle. Now somewhat fearful of how Oswald had abused his character flaws and strengths to replace him, Armstrong felt that he had grown dependent upon the armor, whilst he had "rotted" on the inside. As a result, Howard didn't feel worthy of the high-tech armor which Streets used and relied on a suit of armor which visually looked almost exactly the same as his original, grey armor (but which was much more sophisticated). As Howard shifted to fighting crime in this suit, Oswald realized that Howard wasn't as beaten as he had assumed, and repeatedly tried various tactics to destroy Armstrong and make him sink into depression once more. This all culminated in Oswald kidnapping many of Howard's allies and friends and bombing StrongTech. As a result of this bombing, Streets was injured too badly to use his suit of armor, and Howard's friend Erwin Fox was killed. ACE Armor Instead of allowing the blow to push him down the slope of depression, Howard finished developing a brand new suit of armor, which he had been working on for months and confronted Oswald face to face. Zeke used his own suit of armor, which he called the Warhammer, to battle him in response. Although Oswald had layers of ways in which he planned to defeat Howard, Armstrong overcame each obstacle and managed to send Oswald running. Oswald ultimately killed himself by firing a palm-blast into his head. With so many people gaining access to his armor designs, Howard had to figure out a way to stop all the misuse of his armor technology. Armstrong would develop a way to disable the armors of everyone else who used technology based on his designs. Howard even disabled WATCH armors known as Cyguards that he had designed for their use, which caused the World’s Government to go after Armory as public enemy number one, and a threat to society. Howard eluded capture by fooling them into believing that Armory had gone rogue. However, Armstrong’'s good friend both in and outside the armor, Captain Mega, wasn't fooled and tried to persuade Howard from taking on the US Government. This created some friction between the two which lasted quite a while. He realized his mistake and ended up "firing" Armory in order to get the press and public off his back. During the battle with Arsenal, the final armored villain using his tech, Howard faked the death of the rogue Iron Man. He then returned to action in the new Armory Suit, now claiming to be an entirely different person under the mask. Battleforge While Armstrong is continuing to use the Armory suit he discovers that its interface design was causing severe damage to his nervous system. He began remotely controlling the armors, but after a failed mission, he realizes that controlling the Armory suit is not as effective as being inside it. This leads to Armstrong designing the Battleforge Armor, previously dubbed as the “War Scale Response Armored Suit.” His nervous system would continue to deteriorate, however, even to the point where it was life-threatening. During this time, James Streets would watch over the company and continue Armory’s career by using the “War Scale Response Armored Suit.” Of course, Howard would eventually awaken and survive with a chip he programmed and implanted in himself. An enraged Streets takes the “War Scale Response Armored Suit” and begins his own career as the hero known as Battleforge. Howard continues his superhero career and eventually gets into a feud with the Sentinels after the Grey- Nordic War, resulting in him quitting the team. Howard would create a new group called Iron Corps but eventually left that team as well because of another falling out. In time, Armory would decide to reconcile with the Sentinels, and he rejoined them. Sleeping Demons Armstrong begins having problems with Battleforge's attitude when the Vet gets increasingly violent and careless during their missions. The old soldier is haunted over the deaths of his fellow soldiers, and Howard takes him off active duty until he can keep himself in check. James learns through old records that a WATCH team under his command that he believed was wiped out, was actually being held prisoner in a hidden HORDE facility. Streets visit the middle east to track down his lost comrades. Searching across several countries eventually leads them to a doctor named Shelly Hawthorne, she claimed to have treated one of the lost WATCH agents after he was wounded in an escape. They learn that HORDE is actually blackmailing the woman over an operation she botched several years ago and is planning to steal the area's medical supplies and replace them with lethal nerve gas. James is betrayed by the Doctor when he tries to rescue the team. The Khan pried Streets out of the Battleforge Armor and beat him within an inch of his life using a crowbar. He left unconscious in a warehouse set to implode. Tracking the distress signal in the Battleforge armor, Armory arrived to see the warehouse collapsing in on itself, and finds to his horror that Streets was killed in the explosion. Howard felt responsible for the death of his partner, having endangered him by bringing him into this lifestyle. There is a funeral held back in Empire City, but it must be kept quiet so that people don't link him to his secret identity. Armory is determined to take retribution against the Khan. Captain Mega arrives to prevent him from doing anything he's going to regret, and Armory is so angry that he punches him in the face. They discover that while he was overseas, Khan was actually offered a position as the United Nations ambassador for Myanmar and now has complete diplomatic immunity. Armory is intent on having their final confrontation, and putting an end to his nemesis once and for all... he comes to see the villain's first political speech. Naturally, this is part of a plot to murder every single delegate with poisonous gas. Armory and Captain Mega stop the massacre together, and Armory chases the Khan to his helicopter where they struggle in the air. The vehicle crashed in a fiery explosion. Khan's body is nowhere to be found, and Armory remarks angrily that this is the same way every conflict ends... unresolved. Omega Sanction The Omega Sanction arrived soon after. This was a Demonium infused entity designed to wipe out the Aariadi, in this case specifically Captain Mega and the Sentinels. In the final battle, many of the heroes of the Century Universe, including Captain Mega, sacrificed themselves in order to defeat The Omega Sanction. All of Armstrong’s Armory suits were obliterated in the battle. Earth’s heroes were slow to recover from the traumatic battle. including Howard Armstrong, he focused his energy on reconstruction and building a support network for the remaining heroes. Howard also gained the help of The Hood and her law firm associate, Harvey Franklin. They helped him regain ownership of his company and assets. Next, Howard reconciled with the remaining Sentinels and rejoined the team. The ADAM System While researching and rebuilding Armory, Howard stumbled upon an AI a young programmer had developed to play video games with; elements of the program were generations ahead of its time. Armstrong was able to acquire the AI so he could incorporate it into one of his Armory suits as an operating system. In a battle with Legacy Howard was put into a cardiac arrest after he was electrocuted by one of legacy’s tendrils. That shock awoke the suit and gave it a mind of its own. It knew that Howard was in cardiac arrest and saved him. Howard welcomed the live armor except he stopped wearing the suit and taking it into battle. Howard decided to nurture the armor that had gained a mind of its own. Howard would fall in love with a woman named Nyssa Oswald, the daughter of the man who had previously taken over his company. She only began dating him to rebel against her father, however, and did not truly share his feelings for her. Due to the lack of any real intimacy between the two, their relationship soon became tumultuous, with Nyssa even cheating on Howard with one of his business rivals because she thought he had become boring. Strangely, Nyssa was murdered by a Rogue Cyguard Armor. WATCH Commander Armstrong would later reveal his Armory identity to the world. Afterwards, Howard discovered that the Government was once again using his technology, and was able to do so legally due to a copyright loophole that Howard exposed himself to by revealing his secret identity. Armstrong decided to accept a Presidential appointment to serve as the WATCH Commander so that he could monitor and direct the use of his technology by the Government. Old Soldiers Armory (at the onset of a personal psychological mid-life crisis) is forced to deal, in rapid succession, with the return of Khan and HORDE, a crazed killer called Mangle, and a sharpshooter assassin hired by Oberon to murder Howard Armstrong. Armory begins to feel he has lost his edge, especially after his failure to capture Khan. He finds himself unable to even focus. Despite the advice of everyone in his life, Howard refuses to rest and continues to pursue his self-imposed duty despite his worsening condition. Alexander Osborne is appointed deputy commander of WATCH, a brilliant tactical mastermind who has trained his body to physical perfection and dedicated himself to ending the world’s growing dependence on superheroes. This rival is more driven and powerful than anyone he has ever faced before and wants to prove himself by ending the age of superheroes. Broken Castles Osborne gets his opportunity to prove his case when the containment systems at several prisons cause a massive break-out across the United States. Armory and the Sentinels focus their efforts at the Black Mountain facility while Osborne deploys Black Ops teams to San Prisa and The Fist. Osborne’s plan consisted of exposing the Sentinels shortcomings by forcing them to deal with the deadly villains simultaneously. Among the freed inmates, there are numerous high-profile villains. The scenario created a rift in the relationship among the Sentinels. To save the Mayor of Denver, the Sentinels close in on his residential compound where he is being held prisoner by Wulf, Lash, and the Necromancer. After surveying the damage Osborne finally confronts Commander Armstrong by breaking into Sentry Tower. The WATCH operations on the East and West coast went smoothly the enhanced prisoners of those facilities were neutralized with minimal loss of life, most people weren’t even aware of those riots. Osborne informed Howard that he was taking over as WATCH Commander and the Wild West days were over. Sentinels Relieved Sentry Tower was destroyed by explosions focused on the Quantum Labs in the basement levels. Most of the remaining Sentinels were killed in the collapse. The Hood died guiding groups of survivors into evac shelters; a mortally wounded Howard Armstrong spent the last of his energy clearing paths for rescuers to get to those shelters. By the end of the day Howard collapsed from utter exhaustion, he was declared dead the next morning. After the destruction of their headquarters and with so few remaining members, the Sentinels would be disbanded. Following months of inquiry and investigation WATCH determined Sentry Tower was destroyed by unstable technology, Armstrong had installed in the basement levels. Furthermore, WATCH determined the world was a much more dangerous place with the Sentinels in it, they served a purpose in their time but that time had passed. The unstable technology of the Age of Superheroes would be quarantined; Superpowered individuals would be tracked, sequestered, evaluated and either integrated into government programs or neutralized. The surviving Sentinels either assimilated into these new programs or faded from memory. =Personality= Howard Armstrong was, for the lack of a better word, complicated. When he was captured by terrorists, after building the first Armory suit and escaping captivity, Howard had realized the kind of person he really was and engaged in a life of heroism to atone for his past mistakes. Plagued by many vices, Armstrong is prone to womanizing and pride, the latter developed as a consequence of being left alone at a young age and his social status. This lifetime of troubles has caused him to develop a cynical view of the world. Despite this, Howard is devoted to truly make the world a better place. This desire has sometimes caused Armstrong to resort to morally questionable methods, as long as the end justifies them, including his crusade to safeguard his technology (leading him often to confront other heroes). However, Armory has shown to be ridden by guilt over this type of course of action, which developed into self-hate. Howard Armstrong has been described as "man enough to do what needs to be done, even knowing full well what it will cost him.” Howard's self-hating tendencies have also led to Armstrong being suicidal,and undervaluing his own life, especially in favor of others'. Armstrong's relationships, morality, and ethics are highly adaptable and malleable to what he would consider the greater good of mankind's necessary survival and progress. Howard has also been described as "person who really cares. He's been on the top and he's been on the bottom, and he knows there's no easy answer, but every solution to every problem has to start somewhere. He's just trying to help.” Howard has also been shown to loathe taking other people's lives, and resorting to killing people only as a extreme measure, and explicitly stating he doesn't kill, and having claimed that's "not the way we work.” Armory is a hero that relies on his intellect and technological resources to defeat foes and achieve victory. =Powers and Abilities= Howard Armstrong's intellect allows him to constantly upgrade his armor designs. Without his armor Howard is considered to be above peak human and has displayed superhuman capabilities such as superhuman reflexes, His speed, strength and agility without his armor was considered to be at peak human levels. Abilities Saves ' ' Skills Close Combat- Unarmed 1, Deception 6, Expertise (WATCH) 4, Expertise (Business) 7, Expertise (Science) 8, Insight 4, Intimidate 2, Investigation 5, Perception 4, Persuasion 6, Ranged Combat- Armor 2, Technology 14, Vehicles 3 Advantages Beginner's Luck, Benefit 5 (Wealth- Billionaire), Connected, Improvised Tools, Interpose, Inventor, Jack-of-All-Trades, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2, Set-Up, Skill Mastery 2 (Science, Technology), Teamwork, Ultimate Skill 2 (Science, Technology), Well-Informed Equipment (Gear in Suit) Sentinel Commuchip, Computer, Multitool Headquarters Sentry Tower This Empire City Skyscraper was the headquarters of the Sentinels. Powers ACE Mk VI Suit Howard Armstrong’s most advanced version of the Armory Battlesuit. Removable Power Array =Inventions= The Armory suit is just one of Armstrong’s amazing inventions. WATCH Hoverbase As one of the brilliant minds behind the international peacekeeping force, Howard designed weapons systems and technology for the agency for years, before he changed his company's focus to less lethal innovations. Working with Director Frank Bastion, Dr. Sage of the Explorers, and Gene Team member Function, Howard created one of the agency's most lauded innovations. With room for up to 1,000 crewmen, and utilizing revolutionary vortex-beam technology, the Hoverbase served as the mobile headquarters for WATCH's operations. Cygaurds Built by Howard Armstrong to protect WATCH. soldiers from superhuman attacks, the armored Cygaurds were first employed against the Sentinels. =Complications= Power Loss (Plas-Core Blast)- Howard must wait a few rounds between using the Plas-Core Blast, to recharge it's power. It also does comparatively less damage up close than it does at range. Secret Identity Armstrong guards his secret identity well =Allies= The Sentinels WATCH Iron Corps =Enemies= HORDE Oswald Technologies =Reference= Anthony Stark (Earth-616) – FANDOM. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Anthony_Stark_(Earth-616) Iron Man (Character) – Comic Vine (n.d.). Retrieved from https://comicvine.gamespot.com/iron-man/4005-1455/ Category:Tony Stark Category:S16 Category:Battlesuit Category:Peak Human Intelligence Category:High-Tech Exoskeleton Category:Human